JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (April 23, 2013) – The ETSU softball team plays its first home game since April 7 on Wednesday, welcoming USC Upstate to Betty Basler Field for a single game of Atlantic Sun action at 2 p.m.

The game was originally scheduled to take place at 5 p.m., but has been moved up three hours due to forecasted showers and thunderstorms to affect the Tri-Cities late Wednesday afternoon.

ETSU (12-32, 0-22 A-Sun) and USC Upstate (37-7, 17-5 A-Sun) met in Spartanburg, S.C., for a doubleheader on April 10. Those two games were won by Upstate in five innings, 11-0 and 12-0.

The Buccaneers continued to struggle in A-Sun play over the weekend, losing three games at Stetson. The Hatters and starting pitcher Meredith Owen shutout ETSU in the first two games, 2-0 and 3-0, and Owen earned her third win of the series on Sunday, 7-3. Senior Tara Hartnett (Snellville, Ga.) and sophomore Casey Horner (Whitesburg, Tenn.) each hit solo home runs in the finale.

Redshirt sophomore Nicole Fox (Peachtree City, Ga.) was the lone Buccaneer to have a hit in each game of the Stetson series, and enters Wednesday as ETSU’s offensive leader with a .340 average. Fox has hit safely in the last seven games and has a season-best hit streak of 13 games, which fell one shy of the Bucs’ all-time record. Fox leads ETSU with 16 stolen bases, 23 runs scored and 53 hits.

Junior Jackie Baird (Ooltewah, Tenn.) is ETSU’s home run leader with five. Baird also holds the RBI lead with 25 and is hitting .290 to rank second behind Fox. Horner has four home runs and 23 RBIs to rank second behind Baird in each category.

In the circle, junior Katie Wolff (LaGrange, Texas) has been consistent all season long with a 3.15 ERA, tossing 17 complete games, but holds a record of 5-18. Wolff has thrown 146.2 innings for the Bucs, striking out a team-high 71.

Upstate’s lineup will be a tough one for Wolff and the ETSU staff to handle. The Spartans have a team average of .338, led by Maddison Kieffer who is hitting .393. Kieffer has scored 31 runs and driven in 34, totaling five home runs on the season. The two big home run threats are Meredith Barnes and Shellie Robinson, who have 10 and 11, respectively.

The Spartans’ pitching staff is led by Jamie Ujvari (17-2), who boasts a 1.82 ERA. In her 115.2 innings pitched, Ujvari has struck out 124 batters.

Upstate faces Appalachian State on Tuesday before heading to Johnson City on Wednesday.

Live stats for Wednesday’s game will be provided through Stat Broadcast courtesy of ETSUBucs.com.

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